Tomorrow is Elvis Presley’s birthday, but we’re celebrating with good news today!

America said Aloha to Elvis Presley in between a trip to the Dark Side of the Moon and a visit to the Houses of the Holy when the once and future King’s Aloha from Hawaii album earned a berth between Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin atop the Billboard chart. Presley’s Honolulu concert of January 14, 1973, preserved on an RCA long-playing record, was monumental in every respect. The most expensive entertainment broadcast to that point in time, Aloha from Hawaii was viewed by an estimated audience of over one billion people. The RCA soundtrack has long been one of Presley’s most beloved concert recordings, and it’s returning for its fortieth anniversary in a deluxe Legacy Edition due on March 19, 2013 from Sony’s Legacy Recordings.

Though initially aired via satellite to over 40 countries in Asia and Europe, the United States didn’t get to see Elvis in his splendor until April 4, 1973 due to a conflict with Super Bowl VII on January 14. But by the time the concert special aired in the U.S. on NBC, most fans’ appetites had already been whetted by the release of the double-LP set preserving the concert. Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite was released to stores by RCA on February 4, 1973, initially in the quadraphonic format only. It became the first quadraphonic album to top the Billboard chart, and was certified Gold shortly after its release. (A stereo release was first offered through the RCA Record Club before it supplanted the quadraphonic disc in shops.) Aloha has since been certified five times platinum.

For the performance at the Honolulu International Center, Elvis was backed by his regulars: the TCB Band (including James Burton, Jerry Scheff, Ronnie Tutt, John Wilkinson, Glen Hardin and Charlie Hodge), Joe Guercio’s orchestra, and vocalists Kathy Westmoreland, The Sweet Inspirations and J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet. All tickets for the concert and a January 12 rehearsal show would be on a “pay what you can” basis benefiting the Kui Lee Cancer Fund, for which Presley raised over $75,000.00. Five additional songs were recorded by Presley after the concert to be inserted into the eventual U.S. broadcast, four of which, appropriately, came from his film Blue Hawaii. (One of these five, “No More,” didn’t get an airing until the release of the 1978 album Mahalo from Elvis.)

After the jump: what can you expect on this Legacy Edition? Plus, a pre-order link and the track listing with discography!

The original Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite album was, of course, released on CD by RCA, and was joined in 1988 by The Alternate Aloha, containing the entire dress rehearsal performance. In 1998, Dennis Ferrante remixed Aloha from Hawaii for a 25th anniversary CD from RCA which included the five additional songs. Though it features no previously unissued music, the new Legacy Edition includes the remastered original album on its first disc, while its second disc includes The Alternate Aloha plus the five bonus songs. This is the first time Aloha and The Alternate Aloha have been paired in one release. To sweeten the pot, Steve Rosenthal and Rob Santos have completely remixed and remastered The Alternate Aloha from the original multi-tracks. A 24-page booklet with new liner notes by Stuart Colman and rare photographs rounds out this package.

This definitive edition of King’s triumphant, history-making Hawaiian concert arrives in stores from RCA and Legacy Recordings on March 19. You can pre-order below!

Introduction: Also Sprach Zarathustra (Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey)

See See Rider

Burning Love

Something

You Gave Me a Mountain

Steamroller Blues

My Way

Love Me

It’s Over

Blue Suede Shoes

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

Hound Dog

What Now My Love

Fever

Welcome to My World

Suspicious Minds

Introductions by Elvis

I’ll Remember You

An American Trilogy

A Big Hunk O’ Love

Can’t Help Falling in Love

Closing Riff

Blue Hawaii

Ku-U-I-Po

No More

Hawaiian Wedding Song

Early Morning Rain

All tracks on CD 1 recorded live at the Honolulu International Center – 1/14/1973
CD 2, Tracks 1-22 recorded live at the Honolulu International Center – 1/12/1973
CD 2, Tracks 23-27 recorded live without an audience at the Honolulu International Center – 1/14/1973. First released on Mahalo from Elvis (Pickwick ACL-7064, 1978). These songs, with material on Disc 1, used on Aloha from Hawaii broadcast.

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Peggy Lipton, Doris Day, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders.
In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and his work still appears with frequency in the magazine. In 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.
Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as The Supremes, Melissa Manchester, Laura Nyro, Bobby Darin and Johnny Mathis, legendary producer Bob Crewe, soul legend Wilson Pickett, and many others.
Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

A deluxe 2-DVD version containing remastered videos of both concerts, plus the original special as edited for U.S. audience, plus raw video of all of the extra footage filmed for the special, was released back in 2004. A truly definitive set, it unfortunately now appears to be OOP.

The Second Disc is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.